Sunday, March 29, 2009

The two sides of William

Yesterday I took the kids for a late bike ride. We got to the school playground around 5 pm. We stopped and picked up Natalie’s friend on the way and a few other girls from her grade were already there. This was great for Natalie, not so great for William.

He tried playing and they didn’t want him to, so then he felt left out. A William who is feeling left out is not a good William to have around. He tortured the girls any chance he got.

As it got later a few of the girls left and the rest asked to go to the other side of the schools playground so I said yes. We all moved over and the issues between William and the girls got worse. At one point I didn’t like the way he was acting so I made him come sit near me. He did, but protested the whole way and this is what he said.

W: I didn’t do it; they are being mean to me!
M: I know they are but you are teasing them too.
W: They are the stupidest girls ever! In the WHOLE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA! The stupidest!

Then he got in trouble for saying that. The poor kid, but it was so funny because he was so serious and upset all at the same time.

Then today we went to church. Last week William was noisy, bouncy, off the wall, and got into so much trouble during mass that he had to ride home in my car. He would not stand when he was supposed to, he would not sit when he was supposed to, he was “TIRED” he would NOT say any of the prayers and he didn’t even attempt the “Our Father” which I know he knows! So he was punished and not allowed in Grammy & Grampy’s car with Natalie.
In my car he had to say the Our Father.

First time he did it in this tiny whinny voice. I made him stop and start again.

Next time he did it in a gruff mad voice, I made him stop and say it again.

Third time he started saying it really, really fast, I made him stop and say it again (do you see a pattern).

4th time he did it correctly. This must have really stuck in his head all week.

So this week I warned him before we got into church.
M: You better behave in church!
W: But I don’t like church.
M: Say that again and we are going EVERY day, not just on Sunday!
W: OK
M: No noises, you must sit and stand when you are supposed to, and I better hear the “Our Father”!
W: Yes Mom.

We get into church and he was really good through the first part of mass. He “read” the book with my dad (my dad would point to the words that were being read and William would try to follow). Stood up and sat down when he was supposed to and kept really quiet. I was impressed. Then came time for the Our Father, I was really wondering what he was going to do.

He stood up with everyone, took my hand and my dads hand and said the Our Father in a nice voice that I could hear but wasn’t too loud. We finished the prayer and he turned to me and said, in a nice quiet church voice

W: Can I go in Grammy and Grampys car?
M: Yes you can, you did a really nice job
W: Is church done yet?
M: Almost just a little while left
W: YEA! (in a nice quiet church voice so ONLY I could hear him)

Then the bouncing started, I bent over to him and said
M: I can still have you come in my car.

He stopped and behaved the rest of mass.

Maybe there is hope!

Coming soon: Natalie’s cheer leading performance.

Thursday, March 19, 2009

New meaning to “The Dog Ate My”…..

I made a play date for William at a local park today. We went and the kids had fun, William enjoyed rolling around in the grass, SAND, mulch and any other soft surface he could find. He found a tree to climb, rolled his ball on the top of the pavilion, and played everywhere BUT the playground equipment.

His friend left and William and I decided to take Bailey to the dog park they put in. This was going to be our first visit to the dog park and William and I were excited. As we walked and got closer and closer Bailey was getting excited too, I think he could smell ALL the other dogs that had been on the trail to get to the park.

The dog park is very nice. It has a big fenced in area, one side for small dogs, and one side for big dogs. I like the way the entrance is set up, you walk into a common area; latch the gate then through another gate to the right for big dogs and to the left for the little dogs. I guess this helps so no dogs are escaping. Personally I think they should have the playgrounds set up like this. That way, especially with toddlers and “runners”, you know your kids are in the area and can’t get out.

As I was walking up it dawned on me that I had a 5 year old with me, a child whose face is at a “big” dogs face level. So I started to rethink what I was going to do. I surveyed the dogs in the park and there were mostly labs (like Bailey) a few smaller dogs, and one BIG dog who looked like the dog from the movie “Turner and Hooch”. (That was the movie with Tom Hanks and the dog that FLUNG its slobber EVERYWHERE). We watched the dogs and everyone seemed to be getting along nicely so I thought we’d try it. I told William he was going to have to stay right with me, and he could not go running and playing with the dogs. This was so hard for him, he just wanted to jump in there and tackle all the dogs to get the balls just like he does with Bailey.

We entered and I let Bailey off his leash, Let the butt sniffing begin! All the dogs said hello to the new comer, in the typical dog way. Bailey returned the sniffs and made some friends, and he was off and running. William and I found a bench and sat down. Some of the other dogs came over to check us out, I kept my arm close to William (in the soccer mom car move), and my eyes on the dogs that were around him.

Most of the dogs left and went to play so I moved my arm away from William a little. I was looking at all the dogs and one came over to us but I thought nothing of it. I looked down at William and saw his shoe was off and he was shaking sand out of it, then his sock came off and he started shaking that to get the sand off. Apparently waving a sock around a group of dogs doesn’t mean, “I’m shaking the sand off my sock” to a dog it means
“LET’S PLAY---GET THAT SOCK!”

Before I knew what happened the “Turner and Hooch” dog had William’s sock in his mouth and was making a break for it. Not thinking AT all, I grab the dog around the neck and put my hand in his mouth trying to get the sock. I had it a few times, but grabbing a sock that is in a dog’s mouth doesn’t mean let go of the sock, it means “SHE WANTS TO PLAY WITH ME”! So the dog starts tugging at the sock, then it dawned on me that I know NOTHING about this dog, so I let go of the sock and the dog and started into a fit of uncontrollable laughter as the “Turner and Hooch” dog and a yellow lab each grabbed an end of William’s sock and started playing tug of war with it.

William’s eyes were as big as they could be watching his sock being used for tug-of-war by these two dogs. I had such a hard time controlling my laughter. It’s a sock, no big deal, I told William to just put his shoe on and he could get a new pair when he got home. He looked at me like I was crazy, he wanted his sock back. I figured there was no hope of that ever happening William didn’t see it that way; it was a vendetta, he was getting that sock back!

We sat there watching the dogs play with the sock, then they got board with it and dropped it. I didn’t realize this but William never took his eyes off that sock. All of a sudden he was off the bench and I was yelling at him “what are you doing” as he was darting into the sea of dogs, he yelled “I’M GETTING MY SOCK BACK!” The dog saw him coming and thought William was coming to play with him grabbed the sock again. William came back to the bench and waited again. At this time an older woman walked up and we started talking, then she looked at her dog and said

Woman: What’s in his mouth?
William: My Sock, he stole it
Woman: What? He stole your sock?
William: YEP
Woman: How did he get your sock?
William: I was getting the sand out of it and he took it.
Woman: I’ll get it back for you.

She walked to the dog and took it from him and gave it back to William. Turns out this dog that was bigger than William is only 6 months old! Just a puppy who wants to play. William and I said thank you as she handed the sock back to me. I figured I would carry it home and trash it. William took the sock out of my hand, took his shoe off and put the sock on and put his shoe back on.

M: What are you doing?
W: I’m putting my sock on
M: It’s all dirty; the dogs had it in the dirt
W: its ok they didn’t get the inside dirty, just the outside.
M: As soon as we get home you take that sock off and put it in the washer, it better not go walking around my house on your foot!

We hung around a few more minutes then headed home, dog eaten sock and all. William listened and took the sock off the second he stepped inside the door. It’s in the washer with the rest of the sock as I type, I can’t wait to see if it came clean or if I will get a good laugh every time I wash socks. I just need to look at in and I’ll burst into laughter thinking about the day the dog stole William’s sock!




"The Sock"

Wednesday, March 18, 2009

SPRING!!

It’s soooooo beautiful here today and it’s only 9:30AM! I made my phone calls last night:
We are ridin bikes to school!

I told Natalie and her one friend last night on the way to cheerleading that I was thinking of riding today. They both let out cheers of happiness and excitement. I called to tell the 4th grader who travels to school with us each morning, she said her bike was ready to go.

My kids were outside about 30 minutes before we actually had to leave. I was in and out of the house, getting things I needed. My helmet, Natalie’s combination (she forgot it over winter), gloves….. Each time I went back outside William would yell, “come on MOM, I want to go”. I told him he would be way too early for school. He didn’t care, he wanted to RIDE.

The only disappointed one was Bailey; he was so excited as we were getting ready to go. I think he thought he was coming with us. Poor dog! I’m going to have to start walking him. I just don’t think taking him on a leash while I’m on a bike is a good idea. I think I would need full body armor not just a helmet.

On the subject of full body armor here is my conversation with William yesterday.

W: Mom, I want to go sky diving
M: WHAT???
W: I want to jump out of an airplane, or a helicopter
M: :-0
W: What, it would be fun, I won’t get hurt, I promise.
M: :-0
W: Mom?
M: William why would you want to jump out of a perfectly good airplane?
W: Actually I think I want to jump out of the helicopter first.
M: I don’t think they let you jump out of helicopters, something with the blades spinning around
W: Oh come on Mom, I’ll wear body armor, like a knight
M: WHERE DO YOU COME UP WITH THIS STUFF?
M: NO you are not jumping from anything
W: You’re no fun!

That’s me the no fun mom! Can you see my future hospital bills???? And people wonder why I don’t encourage him to take his bike helmet off his head when the bike ride is over!

Friday, March 13, 2009

Return policy

The hospital that I was born at just closed because of the tough economic times. I saw it on the news this morning and e mailed my parents to see if they knew. This is my father’s response to my e mail.

Reply 1: Guess we can’t return you anymore ;-).

Reply 2: I told your mother we should have gotten the extended warranty from a third-party provider…..

Thursday, March 5, 2009

Where does he come up with this stuff????

Mommy---If that’s your real name.

Where does he come up with this stuff????

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

A 5 year olds language

As most of you know, William was in wrestling this past season. So he is now hanging out with different kids, some older, than he is. The teams are 5 year olds up to middle school kids. Most very nice and polite, the boys are taught to follow instructions, to listen to their coach’s, team work, and confidence, all building their self-esteem. I like the program, (hate watching William get pinned in 2 seconds) but over all a good experience.

This is what my little darling did at his last match. My mom and dad came to watch, Ed’s best friend and his wife, son and brother were all there. William walked out on the mat, shook hands with the kid, and got pinned! End of match, end of the season for William. Everyone who came to see him said hello then were on their way. William was the second kid to wrestle that night so now he had nothing to do for the next hour or so.

Because this is such a long time with nothing to do the coaches let the little guys get up and run around and play together. So William was off playing with the boys. There are these round thick tube like things in the gym. Any kid would look at it and decide they wanted to play inside it, kind of like a fort.

William was inside the tube thing and I went over to see how he was and to get his head gear from him. He hadn’t seen me walk over because he was inside playing. So he comes barreling out from inside, chasing after a kid, he looses the kid and as he comes out I hear him say

“What the Shit”?

as he runs past me. He sees me as he turns around to go back in and the look that came over his face when he saw me, was priceless! That stunned deer in the headlights look. I think I had the same look on my face after hearing those words come out of my son’s mouth!

He looks at me and says

W: Oh Mom, I didn’t know you were there
M: WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY???????
W: Sorry Mom, I didn’t know you were there.
M: It doesn’t matter if I’m there or not you DO NOT say that WORD!!!!!
W: (head hanging down) ok, I’m sorry.

I think I’m really in trouble with this kid. I’m still shocked that he has the understanding, don’t get caught. Not it’s a bad word don’t say it, but he’s going to experiment and say things when I’m not around! Oh Brother! Now I do believe that I’m not allowed to put a bar of soap in his mouth and hot sauce on his tongue would be considered child abuse so I guess my only alternative is to start looking into military schools. Do military schools accept 5 year olds???

Monday, March 2, 2009

Snow day supplies

I took the kids to CCD yesterday and made a quick trip to the grocery store to stock up for today. I knew we needed TP (I put the last roll on that morning) so I headed there first. Our TP, paper towel, tissue section is at the back of one end of the store and the milk, OJ… is at the other, with the check out in the middle up front.

I saw a new type of TP on sale so instead of grabbing the kind I like (that was also on sale) I figured I’d try a new brand. It was claiming to be good for the earth. So I picked up a 20 pack and made my way through the rest of the store. I realized I was running low on time so I finished up quickly and made my way to the check out line.

She scanned the TP first and I notice the price didn’t match what, I thought, was on the shelf sticker. So she calls for someone to go check and she rang the rest of my stuff through. Now she is done, there are people behind me, I’m watching the clock like crazy because I have to go pick up the kids, and the price check guy is still not back. He finally makes it back, carrying a 20 pack of the worst looking TP I’ve ever seen in my life! He explains that this is the brand that was that price, the other one (earth friendly one) cost more than my favorite brand that was on sale.

I tell them no I don’t want either of those, I was willing to try a new brand ONLY if the price was right. The cashier has to call a manager to override the TP she put in, I’m watching my time get smaller and smaller, and I still need TP. She finally finishes my order and I can leave to go pick up the kids. I’m standing there trying to decide if I take the whole cart back into the store to get TP right then and there or do I go get the kids and drag them through the store on the way home. The running in part wasn’t what made me nervous; it was the standing in line part. I was pushing it with my time as it was if I picked the wrong line I would be late to get the kids. But taking both kids into the store was not what I wanted to do.

If you didn’t know me and you saw me in the store with William, you would think I had given into his every screaming tantrum for candy, toys, posters, upstairs decks (I’ll blog about that story later) that the kid has ever had. He’s regressed to this 2 year old like state, begging, pleading, demanding, and crying, for every stupid toy, piece of candy, book, what ever he happens to see in the store that day. I have no clue where this has come from, I NEVER let the kids just get something. If I plan to let them get something I tell them before we go to the store, if not I tell them that too. So the thought of taking William into the store was not very appealing to me. I decided I didn’t have time to run back in, I had to pick the kids up. So I got there and picked them up and completely forgot about the TP on the way home.

Once we got home Ed decided he needed to go to his school for a few minutes. He took both kids with him which left me time to make lunch. The school wasn’t open so Ed stared for home, he remembered that he needs to stop at the beer store (there was a storm-a-comin so he had to have beer in the house). They had to wait a few minute for the store to open, so this became a big thing. They waited outside in line with the other people who were stocking up for the storm. No we don’t need no bread, or milk or eggs during a storm, but we must make sure there is BEER in the house! Ed called while they were waiting, he said it was like waiting for tickets to a big concert, the excitement grew as the time got closer and closer for the store to open. (I’m not a beer drinker so I don’t get it).

Ed and the kids got back from their exciting trip to the beer store and it was time to get ready for the afternoon activities. William had a birthday party that we needed to wrap gifts for, and Natalie had a date with Grammy, Grampie and Beauty and the Beast. They were taking her to the high school to see the play (Beauty & the Beast) that the high school students were putting on.

Natalie left, and William and I followed a little while later. I stayed at the party with William, went home after, got dinner ready as Natalie was returning home. I put the kids to bed sat down with Ed to watch TV and about 8:30 as the snow started, remembered that we were using our LAST roll of TP!

Ed said “I can see it now, Natalie’s version of the story that will be told to the teacher”. (Imagine the little cloud bubble over my head and Ed’s head as we think of this scene taking place the next day).

T: Hi Natalie how was your snow day?
N: Fine, we ran out of toilet paper.
T: Oh what did you do?
N: But the day wasn’t ruined because daddy had plenty of beer in the house. He was ready for the storm, but mom wasn’t!

I think I need to lecture both kids before they leave the house tomorrow!

PS Ed found a roll of TP we keep stashed with our camping stuff so we made it through the snow day and it's my #1 thing to do tomorrow!